AY DAGE

Cristiano Ronaldo reacted angrily after he was grabbed by a pitch invader at the end of Juventus' 2-0 win at Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday.   The Portuguese, 34, gave Juventus the lead in the 75th minute with his 128th Champions League goal, before Gonzalo Higuain added a second late on. After the final whistle, a fan ran on to the pitch and put his arm around Ronaldo as he tried to get a selfie. Ronaldo pushed the fan away before security staff intervened. The five-time Ballon d'Or winner, who held his neck after the incident, had hugged another fan who came on to the pitch during the match. Juventus had already qualified for the last 16 as group winners. It was Ronaldo's third goal in as many games and his ninth of the season. "I feel good - the annoyance I felt has passed and the team is in good shape," he said after the game. "Today we played a good second half. We are all growing and even I personally felt better today, more ...

Arsenal came back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Standard Liege and progress to the last 32 of the Europa League as group winners.      The Gunners were all but through before kick-off, with the hosts needing to win 5-0 to prevent the visitors from going through to the knockout rounds - a result that looked even more unlikely after a first half Arsenal edged.       However, Samuel Bastien put the hosts ahead just after the restart when his shot deflected off Sokratis and beyond the wrong-footed Emiliano Martinez. The goal boosted the hosts but visibly knocked the fragile confidence of the Arsenal players, who became even more nervy when Standard Liege got a second as Selim Amallah's strike from inside the area flew into the far corner via a slight deflection off Konstantinos Mavropanos. It set things up for a tense final 20 minutes as the hosts pursued an unlikely result but Alexandre Lacazette settled the Gunners' nerves...

Vandals have tried to saw through the feet of a statue of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and placed a rope around its neck.   Police have put a fence up around the statue, outside Malmo's stadium in Sweden, in case it falls down. It is the latest act of vandalism directed at the statue since it was announced that Ibrahimovic had invested in a rival club last month. Former Sweden striker Ibrahimovic, 38, made his professional debut for Malmo 20 years ago. The former Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan, Paris St-Germain and Manchester United player is looking for his next club having left LA Galaxy at the end of the MLS season. On 27 Novemberit was announced he had bought 25% of the shares in Hammarby, who finished third in this year's Swedish championship. That same day, the 3.5 metre high bronze structure, commissioned by the Swedish FA and unveiled on 9 October, was sprayed with paint, set on fire and a toilet seat put over its arm. Ibrahimovic's house...

 The 100 seconds that saved Liverpool's Champions League hopes     For nearly an hour it was a tense and nervy affair and then in the space of 100 seconds Liverpool exhaled a huge sigh of relief. The Champions League holder had needed a draw against Red Bull Salzburg to guarantee its place in the last 16, but until second-half goals from Naby Keita and Mo Salah eventually secured a 2-0 win on Tuesday, there was a palpable sense that Liverpool was living just a bit too close to the edge for its liking. Nerves frayed as Salah missed chance after chance. They frayed even more as Salzburg frequently pierced a Liverpool defense that has struggled to keep clean sheets this season. Seven years after Chelsea had failed to reach the last 16 after winning the Champions League the previous season -- could Salzburg really pull off the one of the great European shocks and condemn Liverpool to a similar fate? This season, the Austrian team has prov...

Chelsea hold on to qualify for last 16  Chelsea survived a late scare to move into the Champions League knockout stages with victory over Lille at Stamford Bridge. Frank Lampard's side were in complete control for the most part and set up the victory they required with first-half goals from Tammy Abraham and Cesar Azpilicueta. Chelsea's nerves were frayed when former striker Loic Remy pulled one back for Lille late on but they were able to close out victory to reach the last 16 after finishing a tough group in second place behind Valencia but ahead of last season's semi-finalists Ajax. Abraham scored his 13th goal of the season after 19 minutes when he turned in Willian's cross from close range while Azpilicueta headed in from Emerson's corner 10 minutes before the break. Lille, with nothing but pride to play for and with a much-changed team, barely threatened until Remy's late strike but Chelsea saw out the win to complete the first phase o...

Premier League hits and misses: Liverpool pass latest test in Bournemouth victory              As Jurgen Klopp said in his post-match interview, Liverpool do not go into any game expecting to win but realistically, they were never going to lose at Bournemouth. The stats and form all pointed to another Liverpool victory and they ultimately glided to an easy three points. The game turned on Nathan Ake's injury and once Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain flicked home past Aaron Ramsdale, there was only going to be one outcome. Naby Keita and Mohamed Salah were outstanding and linked up with one another for two of the goals, with similarly impressive performances across the park.            Perhaps the biggest positive was their clean sheet, having not kept one in 13 games in all competitions heading into Saturday's match, with the returning Alisson making only one clear save. T...

Angel di Maria scored twice against former employers Real Madrid as Paris St-Germain began their Champions League Group A campaign with a comfortable win. Thomas Meunier's stoppage-time goal added more embarrassment for the Spanish giants - and heightened the pressure on Real manager Zinedine Zidane, whose win ratio is below 50% since returning to the club towards the end of last season. Eden Hazard, making his first start for the visitors, showed some nice touches but struggled to influence proceedings, as a Real old boy stole the show. Celebrating his 100th appearance in the competition, Di Maria opened the scoring with a close-range shot that crept inside Thibaut Courtois' near post from Juan Bernat's pass. While Real's Belgian goalkeeper Courtois appeared to be caught out for the opening goal, he could do nothing to prevent the second. Why Zidane is on shaky ground at Real Madrid Idrissa Gueye's fine work on the right created the opening...

At the press launch of a TV series about himself last week, Sergio Ramos joked with journalists: "I have more seasons now with Amazon than I do with Real Madrid."                      The Spain centre-back has two years left on his contract at the Bernabeu but his club are not looking to renew it. And while Ramos has been a constant presence at Real for 14 years, the uncertainty surrounding his future only adds to the increasing sense of instability around a club which has won four of the past six Champions Leagues. Since Zinedine Zidane returned as manager towards the end of last season, his win percentage is below 50% and there has been little to suggest improvement since the start of this season. Real still look unsettled and they are still inconsistent, worrying signs as they enter a two week-period which started with Champions League defeat to Paris St-Germain, follow...

Former Chelsea and Manchester United coach Jose Mourinho believes Cameroon legend Samuel Eto'o should've been crowned the world's best player at least once.                 The 38-year-old former Barcelona and Mallorca star recently retired from football. His glittering 22-year career included winning the Africa Cup of Nations twice and the European Champions' League three times. Mourinho first worked with Eto'o at Inter Milan during the 2009-2010 season where the pair won a treble securing the Serie A title, the Italian Cup and the Champions League.                The pair then teamed up at Chelsea three years later for a short spell with mixed fortunes. "It's difficult to understand how Samuel Eto'o never won the Ballon d'Or with the impressive career he had" Mourinho said in an interview with Cameroon Radio.  ...

Conte wants Chelsea to play on after terror attack       Antonio Conte says Chelsea’s Premier League clash with Arsenal should go ahead on Sunday despite an explosive device being detonated on a tube train near the club’s west London stadium. At least 22 people were injured after a bomb exploded on a packed London Underground train during the morning rush hour on Friday in what police are treating as a “terrorist incident”. Witnesses reported seeing a “wall of fire” and passengers with facial burns at Parsons Green station in west London after the explosion. Parsons Green is only a short distance from Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge home. But Chelsea manager Conte believes it is important for the Premier League champions to play Arsenal if possible to prove that terrorists can’t disrupt the fabric of society. “I’d like to say all our thoughts are for the people affected in the incident on the tube,” Conte told a pre...